All in All

I've decided this year to pay more attention to the support acts when I go to gigs, after all, you never know when you're going to find a jewel out there that you would have otherwise missed out on. I guess the background to this all comes back to Hot Chip. They supported Bobby Conn last year and I really couldn't be fussed and was very dismissive about them. Now I am obsessed with their most recent single 'Over and Over' and desperate to see them at the Luminaire.

So who have I seen this year so far and is there a jewel out there?

Definitely Richard Hawley, who supported Nick Cave. I was straight onto Mac after the gig saying how he should listen out for him. At that point he reminded me that Richard Hawley was the guy Jonathon Ross kept playing and I said was good, but then instantly forgot. At least I'm consistant, I guess.

Howling Bells and Brakes supported the Editors. I thought Howling Bells were a bland Texas tribute band so imagine my surprise to see them get a 4 star review in the Guardian. I may give them a second chance if they support someone I'm seeing again but at the moment I stand by my first judgement. Brakes also supported Belle & Sebastien, but I'm not fussed about them.

Kathy and I went to see new Norwegian electro-pop band Lorraine at 93 feet east. When we arrived the first supprt, Happy Attack, were on. They sound exactly like they look in the picture above. It was like seeing Blazing Squad without the production, but they enjoyed themselves and when they came offstage after their set you realised that 50% of the crowd were their school friends come to see them so I wasn't too vocal in my patronising comments. The Whip were lost by being caught between the euphoria of your school mates band and the headliner. For info, they were trying too hard to be the new Joy Division/New Order. Lorriane were good though.

Finally, Parka were the main support for Lene Lovich last night. Glaswegian (I was going to say that all good things come from Glasgow, but then I remembered interior design obnoxious queens Colin and Justin are from Glasgow so that went out of the window), Jangly guitar, would love to be the new Franz Ferdinand/Kaiser Chiefs but will probably not reach that level as the public will have already moved on and want something new and not another copy of what's gone before by the time they get the necessary exposure.

So as things stand, only Richard Hawley looks to be a jewel so far.

# posted by hitch @ 1:17 PM